The pilot landed at Lamaca Airport in Cyprus 20 minutes later and there began a six and half hour stand-off.
The flight landed at 8.30a.m. local time (6.30a.m UK time) and armed police were already waiting on the runway.
The hijacker initially released most of the passengers excluding, four foreigners and the crew members.
One of the four remaining foreign passengers later made a dramatic escape from the cockpit window of the plane.
The hijacker asked for his ex-wife who lives in Cyprus amongst several requests he made during the stand-off.
The six-and-a -half hour standoff ended peacefully as all the passengers were later released and the suspect arrested. The suspect was not carrying any real explosives.
However, one of the last three foreign passengers to be released, British health and safety auditor from Leeds Mr. Ben Innes posed for a photograph with the hijacker where he is seen grinning and sent the photos to his friends.
It is very strange that in that circumstance he could find some humour in the predicament he found himself.
Mr. Ben Innes was later seen running out of the plane with the remaining two foreign passengers.
Ben Innes has hailed the photo as 'selfie of a lifetime' and says he didnot know why he took the photo with the hijacker.
He told The Sun,
"I'm not sure why I did it, I just threw caution to the wind while trying to stay cheerful in the face of adversity"
"I figured if his bomb was real I'd nothing to lose anyway, so took a chance to get a closer look at it".
He said he asked the hijacker, Mustafa if he could take the photo and he shrugged and said, 'OK'.
Ben Innes and 2 other passengers running out of the plane
The Hijacker



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